MAORI ART

Elements of Carving

Maori carving design is predominantly made up of human
figures. Next in importance is the manaia which
seems (to the writer) to be also a human figure in most
cases. The spiral is another important element. Very much
less frequent are two sea monsters (the marakihau
and the whale), and lizard, birds, fish, and dogs, the latter
being very rare in old carvings. There are a number of
surface patterns, which will be described later.

The Human Figure

There are two main classes of human figure, those with a
more or less naturalistic head and those with a grotesque
head. The naturalistic style is more often carved in the
round, but is also found in relief carving. A notable feature
of these figures is the care and attention devoted to facial
tattooing, both on male and on female figures. This often
contrasts with surprisingly rough finishing on the body. It
has frequently been said that naturalistic figures are
portraits of actual people, but this is to be doubted as a
portrait would inevitably attract the tapu of the person
represented. Generally speaking, although the head may be
well proportioned, the body is squat and shortened in the
same way as the grotesque figures. Grotesque figures are of
many types and there are wide differences in the styles
adopted in different parts of New Zealand. These tribal or
district styles will be referred to in more detail later. As
with naturalistic figures, grotesque human figures occur both
in the round and in relief carving. There are many theories
as to why the Maori so distorted the human figure. The
simplest explanation is that the carver used his artistic
licence to fit his basic design, the human figure, into the
space available to him in a satisfying way. Archey points out
that the human figure in its natural shape does not
satisfactorily fit a broad slab of timber, such as the Maori
used in house building.

Even more theories have been put forward to explain the
characteristically three-fingered hand. It should be
remembered that the Maori was not so obsessed with the
three-fingered hand as the European student has been. The
five-fingered hand is by no means uncommon in carving and is
frequent in some districts. The most common treatment is a
four-fingered hand, that is, three fingers and a thumb. A
hand with three fingers and no thumb is less common. In some
areas there are sometimes only two, or even one, finger and a
thumb. The origin of the curious treatment of the hands in
carving is still (and probably will remain) unknown. The
explanation sometimes given to tourists that the three
fingers represent the Holy Trinity is, of course, nonsense.
In seeking an origin it seems reasonable to examine the
situation in tropical Polynesia, the origin of the Maori. It
is interesting to observe that the Maori's nearest relations,
the Cook Islanders, also carved a three-fingered hand on
occasions, and sometimes a four-fingered hand. The most
noticeable thing in Polynesian carving, however, is the
perfunctory treatment of the human hand. The fingers are
often not shown at all, and very often simply by two or three
shallow grooves cut into the hand. It appears, therefore,
that the Polynesians, like modern artists, were satisfied to
give an impression of hands. It is quite feasible that the
practice of indicating the fingers by two or three grooves
became a convention resulting in hands with three or four
fingers, according to the number of grooves. With easier
material and better tools, the Maori began to elaborate his
carving and paid more attention to the hands, but the
established conventions remained.

It is usual, but not invariable, for grotesque figures to
be carved in the posture of the haka, with the knees
bent, the body crouched, and the tongue protruding.

The Manaia

This curious feature of Maori carving has been the subject
of much controversy and is variously seen as a bird-headed
man, a bird, a serpent, or a human figure in profile. The
name is all that has been left to us by authoritative Maoris.
Williams' Dictionary of the Maori Language gives the
following meanings for manaia: a grotesque beaked
figure sometimes introduced in carving; ornamental work, a
lizard; the sea-horse; a raft; and, as an adjective,
fastidious. It is interesting that in Samoa the word (with
the causative prefix) fa'amanaia means to decorate
or embellish. In Niue the cognate word fakamanaia
means the same. As the main use of the manaia is to embellish
the principal figures, it seems very likely that the name
simply means “embellishment” or “decoration”.

A practical study of Maori carving (that is, done by adze
or a chisel and a mallet) quickly brings out two outstanding
features. The first is that, apart from the naturalistic
figure, every type of full-faced figure has a manaia
to match. The second feature is that the head of the
manaia can, in each case, be recognised as half of
the head of the appropriate matching figure divided down the
middle of the face. This obvious fact does not appear to have
been noted in a scientific paper until Archey drew attention
to it in 1933. It is quite clear that most, at least, of the
manaia in carving are grotesque human figures shown
in profile. This view is supported by the fact that
full-faced figures and manaia may be used
interchangeably in certain types of carving. A good example
is the pare, or door lintel, which almost invariably
has three main figures. These may be three full-faced figures
or one central full-faced figure with a manaia on
either side.

Many experts strongly contend that the manaia is
a bird-headed man, or even a bird. There is very little
traditional evidence to support either view and, as Archey
has pointed out, the manaia normally has the
distinctly non-avian characteristic of teeth, or at least one
tooth. The very fact that only the name has come down to us
from the ancient carvers seems to imply that there was
nothing extraordinary about the manaia and that it
was just another example of the primary element in carving
the human figure. At the same time there is very good
evidence, which will be referred to later, that Maori art
does include birds.

The manaia is a most versatile creature of the
greatest use to carvers, as it can be distorted or mutilated,
almost at will, to fit any space which needs to be filled. It
may simply be any eye and a mouth, with or without a nose,
tongue, or teeth; it may be a head and one arm, with or
without hand; it may have two arms and no body, one arm, one
leg, and a body, or the full complement of body and
extremities. Manaia may be used to form the hands or
fingers of large figures, or sometimes even the arms or feet.
In most carving compositions the background between the
high-relief figures is filled in with manaia engaged
in the most amazing contortions. It is common for a part of
one manaia to form part of another one; for
instance, the curved arm of one may also be the mouth of an
adjacent manaia. Occasionally a manaia may
look very like a snake. But what appears to be a snake body
may simply be a curved arm with the hand not shown.

The Marakihau

This is a curious, semi-human figure which looks
remarkably like a first cousin of the European mermaid. From
the waist up the marakihau is a normal, stylised,
human figure, but below the waist it had a curled extremity
ending in a fish tail. The tongue is a long tube
(ngongo) ending in a cup, and a fish is usually
shown being sucked into the tongue. Earlier examples have
conventionalised triangular scales on the edge of the abdomen
and also on top of the head. According to Hamilton, the
marakihau was fabled to draw both canoes and fish
through its tubular tongue. During the past 70 or 80 years
the marakihau has undergone a strange
transformation. By about 1880 the scales had disappeared from
the body and those on the head had been replaced by a pair of
horns in the best Viking manner. By 1890 some examples lacked
both scales and horns, but retained the fish tail, the
tubular tongue, and the fish. In 1900 we see the
marakihau with the characteristic fish tail, but
lacking all of the other distinguishing marks, and also at
about that time, on the Wairaka carved house at Whakatane,
there came the final merger with the European mermaid, long
coiled plaits of hair and breasts complete.

The marakihau proper seems to have been confined
mainly to the Matatua tribes of the Bay of Plenty and
Urewera. It is found in the carved house at Te Kuiti, but
some of the carvers of that house were from the Matatua area.
Archey (Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 42,
1933, p. 171, et seq.) illustrates a possible
evolution of the marakihau from a fairly widespread
feature in Maori carving, where one leg of a human figure is
formed by a prolongation of the body, often with the leg
curled inwards and upwards. The result is quite like the
marakihau, but lacks its specialised
characteristics. The extensions of the body to form one leg
is found in North Auckland and Taranaki and in Ngati Porou
carvings from the East Coast, North of Gisborne. Archey
(JPS, Vol. 45, p. 49) illustrates a similar type of
figure in greenstone ornaments.

The Lizard

In a monograph by Elsdon Best (N.Z. Journal of Science
and Technology, Vol. V, p. 321) there are various
illustrations of lizards in Maori carving. With two
exceptions, all of the examples illustrated are Arawa work of
the later nineteenth century. This does not mean, however,
that the lizard is a post-European feature, especially in
view of the continuous tradition of carving in the Arawa
district. The carved house at the Spa Hotel, Taupo, was the
work of Wero, one of the most outstanding carvers of Te Arawa
in the middle of the nineteenth century and a pupil of other
famous carvers. In this house a large lizard is superimposed
on the body of the figure at the base of the pou toko
manawa, or central pole supporting the ridgepole. Two of
the illustrations in Best's paper show lizards on ridgepole
supports. This may be significant in view of Best's statement
that a lizard was sometimes buried beneath one of the three
posts supporting the ridgepole of a school of learning or
other important building, the lizard being generally viewed
as an effective guardian. Two of the examples figured by Best
show a lizard on the koruru head at the gable of a
house. Hochstetter saw a lizard carved on the gable of a
house when he visited Ohinemutu in 1859.

The lizard is also found in North Auckland carvings. A
particularly fine example given by Best is on the lid of a
burial chest. Another lizard appears on the supporting post
of a small carved storehouse painted by Earle in North
Auckland in 1827 and given in Phillipps (Maori Houses and
Food Stores, 1952, p. 181). This storehouse is the kind
used to hold the bones of important people. There is probably
an element of protection in both of these northern examples.
The same may be said for a large lizard carved on a tomb
illustrated by Taylor (Te Ika a Maui, 1855, p. 106).
There is a lizard carved on the outer threshold of the
storehouse “Hinana” built by Iwikau (Te Heuheu Tukino III) of
Ngati Tuwharetoa between 1854 and 1856. This again may have
been a warning of the tapu nature of the building. The
elaborate pataka built by Te Pokiha of Te Arawa in
1868 and now in the Auckland Museum has a series of lizards
carved on the ridgepole. In the Dominion Museum there is a
canoe thwart on which there are two lizards. It is said to
have been the thwart on which the Tohunga sat. Best's paper
also has an illustration of a lizard carved on a bone flute
in the British Museum. The lizard was sometimes carved in the
form of an amulet. A good example is given by Skinner
(JPS, Vol. 43, p. 196). A beautiful example of Maori
rock painting depicting two reptilian figures faces the same
page.

Birds

Apart from its doubtful identification with the
manaia, the bird is found in Maori art, especially
in rock paintings, but also in bone and stone amulets and
even in wood. A bone chest from Rarotoka Island in Foveaux
Strait, now in the Otago Museum, is a notable example in
wood. The chest, which stands on a supporting post, is carved
on the shape of a bird with wings, although the head is of a
stylised human type. Skinner (JPS, Vol. 42, p. 110)
gives a small carved object from Waverley with a human head
and, protruding from the top of the head, what could only be
described as the beak of a bird with the nostrils clearly
indicated. In the same paper (JPS, Vol. 43, p. 201)
Skinner gives a pendant from Banks Peninsula with a beautiful
little bird figure in a stylised form carved on it. He
illustrates various bird-shaped pendants in greenstone and
bone.

Fish and Whales

On the comparatively rare occasions where fish appear in
carving (such as those featured with the marakihau),
the treatment is usually naturalistic. Apart from
marakihau designs, fish are found on relatively
recent house slabs illustrating such well known legends as
the story of Maui. Amulets in the shape of fish have been
discovered in various parts of the country. An unusual
specimen found at Banks Peninsula is roughly circular, with
two fish carved in relief in fine detail, one being decorated
with cross-hatched grooves and the other with parallel
grooves.

In major woodcarving the most frequent sea creature is the
pakake, or whale, which was normally carved on the
sloping bargeboards at the front of the large storehouses, or
pataka. The whale, in a stylised form, is depicted
with its tail at the upper end of the bargeboard. The body
occupies the greater part of the board. At the lower end
there is an extraordinarily complex head with a spiral mouth,
within which is a spiral tongue. A large “V”-shaped tooth is
often shown in the mouth, and in some examples a continuous
row of small teeth is carved round the inner edge of the
mouth. Superimposed on the body of the whale are a series of
human figures in the act of hauling a rope, as if pulling the
whale ashore. These figures may be full faced or in profile,
or a mixture of both. The body of the whale is not shown in
some examples, but the spirals composing the head of the
whale appear at the lower ends of the bargeboards.

Other Natural Objects

There are in museums a few kumete, or food bowls,
formed in the shape of a dog with the back hollowed out. Dogs
occasionally appear on house slabs to illustrate a legend,
but it is very doubtful if this is a pre-European practice. A
beautifully carved ornament in the shape of a dog was found
in Monck's Cave, Sumner, and is figured by Barrow. Modern
carvers have, for similar reasons, depicted other creatures,
such as crayfish and insects. Leaves and flowers are quite
foreign to Maori art and are seldom found even in modern
times.

The Spiral

In addition to their many forms used in surface
decorations, spirals are an important element in relief
carving. Maori spirals are almost always double, though
single spirals are occasionally seen carved on stone objects.
As the elements in relief carving consist almost entirely of
human figures, apart from the spiral, Archey has put forward
a theory that the spiral itself has evolved from interlocking
manaia, or the interlocking mouths of
manaia. It is true that there are numerous examples
of openwork spirals which do consist of two interlocked
manaia or interlocked manaia mouths, but
whether the spiral gave rise to these forms or evolved from
them is not known. It is proposed therefore to deal with the
spiral as one of the elements of relief carving in its own
right.

The openwork spiral is known as pitau or
takarangi. Such spirals do not stand alone, but are
placed between human figures or between the heads of human
figures. The finest spiral designs are those on the bow and
stern ornaments of war canoes and on door lintels. Spirals
are also used between full-faced figures or manaia
on door posts, window frames, and on the lower edges of
maihi or bargeboards on the front of carved houses.
On war canoes and in some house carvings spaces between the
two volutes of a spiral are cut right through the timber
producing, in superior work, a lacelike effect. An admirable
study of all the various types of spiral, including those
used in surface decoration, was published by Phillipps
(JPS, Vol. 57, p. 30, et seq). A glance at
the various types will show that almost every one starts in
the centre with a pointed elliptical space, or with a letter
S.

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How to cite this page: . 'Elements of Carving', from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966.Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 22-Apr-09URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/1966/maori-art/page-4